“The premier will name new members to his team either on Monday or Tuesday,” the official said.

Last week, former deputy prime minister and finance minister Ziad Fariz resigned his post following a government announcement that there would be no hike in fuel prices this year, despite the rise in international oil prices and the subsequent budget deficit.

The premier, speaking at a press conference last Tuesday, did not link the finance minister’s resignation to the fuel price decision. But sources familiar with the developments said Fariz, who was pressing for price raises to save the state’s finances, resigned on the backdrop of the Cabinet turning down his recommendations.

Meanwhile, the senior official remarked that the government is currently considering alternatives to ease the burden on the budget, which now struggles with a JD710 million deficit.

He did not elaborate, but Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Khalid Shraideh announced on Thursday that Jordan would start receiving discounted Iraqi oil in the coming days.

Bakhit will also name two ministers to handle the water and irrigation and health portfolios, after ministers Thafer Alem and Saad Kharabsheh, respectively, quit their jobs and other Cabinet members were running the affairs in a care-taker capacity.

They resigned in the wake of a water pollution crisis in the northeastern town of Mansheyet Bani Hassan that sent more than 1,000 people to hospital.